Local authorities pleaded Wednesday for emergency relief for thousands of villagers made homeless by heavy rain and flooding that has ravaged provinces in eastern Afghanistan and left at least 35 people dead.In the worst hit areas in Ghazni, Paktika and Paktia provinces, officials complained they have still received little help since flooding began 10 days ago. In some areas, the presence of Taliban rebels has impeded efforts to assess the damage and deliver aid, they said.Three tons of medicine have been distributed to those affected in remote areas but more is needed, officials said.Gen. Abdul Anan Raufi, police chief of Paktia province, said 17 people had died as a result of the floods and 50 families had been forced from their homes."We urgently need assistance in food items and shelter," he said.... http://www.usatoday.com

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed reservations Thursday about possible new U.S. sanctions against North Korea over its recent missile tests, a visiting U.S. congressional delegation said. Roh "felt a carrot was more useful with the North Koreans than a stick," House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde said after meeting with the South Korean president. "He expressed a lack of enthusiasm for more sanctions." The North test-fired seven missiles last month, including a new model believed to be capable of reaching parts of the United States. The move prompted the U.N. Security Council to pass a statement criticizing the July 5 tests and calling on all member nations to halt weapons-related dealings with the country. Washington lifted a range of financial sanctions against North Korea in 1999 after it agreed to a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile tests that it broke with its latest launches fueling speculation the sanctions might be renewed. ...http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/SEL10208100548_sp.jpeg

A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said. It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft. Police are searching premises after 21 people were arrested. Home Secretary John Reid said they believed the "main players" were accounted for. High security is causing delays at all UK airports. The threat level to the UK has been raised by MI5 to critical after the arrests in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham. Critical threat level - the highest - means "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK". Three US airlines are believed to have been targeted. Mr Reid said had the attack gone ahead it would have caused a loss of life of "unprecedented scale". He said they were "confident" the main players were in custody but neither the police nor government are "in any way complacent"...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4778575.stm

As a middle-aged Coral Gables attorney, dressed sharply in a red suit jacket, skirt and black slingback heels, Elizabeth Ritter stood out among the throng of protesters on Nov. 20, 2003.Frustrated that she couldn't do business because the Miami-Dade County Courthouse was shut down that week during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit, she hastily made a sign that read ''Fear Totalitarianism'' and decided to stand with the protesters.The sign, however, became her shield against a barrage of rubber bullets fired at her by a legion of Broward Sheriff's deputies in riot gear. And, in an image captured by a videographer, she is shot in the head as she cowers in the street....http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15228898.htm

Sixty percent of Americans oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, the highest number since polling on the subject began with the commencement of the war in March 2003, according to poll results and trends released Wednesday.And a majority of poll respondents said they would support the withdrawal of at least some U.S. troops by the end of the year, according to results from the Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted last week on behalf of CNN. The corporation polled 1,047 adult Americans by telephone.According to trends, the number of poll respondents who said they did not support the Iraq war has steadily risen as the war stretched into a second and then a third year. In the most recent poll, 36 percent said they were in favor of the war -- half of the peak of 72 percent who said they were in favor of the war as it began...http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/09/iraq.poll/

So much for Ehud Olmert's "humanitarian corridors". Two weeks after the Israeli Prime Minister's comforting assertion - which no one in Lebanon believed - the Israeli air force has blown up the last bridge across the Litani river, in effect ending all humanitarian convoys between Beirut and southern Lebanon. Requests from humanitarian organisations for clearance from the Israelis are now being refused. Even the Red Cross admits there is now, in effect, a blockade on a vast area along the Lebanese border where thousands of civilians are still cowering in their homes. David Shearer, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in Lebanon, has pleaded with the Israelis to end their attacks against the country's infrastructure and end all activities which threaten the transport of humanitarian aid to the displaced. ...http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14433.htm